I read
Bryanna Bevens' piece about health care for illegals
and have something of interest to add.

Briefly, my father in law passed away in January 2006
after a stay of a few hours at St. Joseph's Hospital.

The charges amounted to $3,270.90. However, we
subsequently discovered that
Medicare had reimbursed the hospital $6,109.76.

After much hell raising and reports to the Medicare
Fraud Division, we finally got a letter from J.D. Smith,
Manager,
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in
Philadelphia stating in part that: "Since 1983,
Medicare hospital inpatient services have been paid on a
prospective payment basis without a direct correlation
to the actual cost incurred".

The letter went on to say: "In addition to the
Inpatient Prospective Payment System, if the hospital
treats a high percentage of low income patients, which
St. Joseph's does, it [the hospital] also
receives a percentage add-on payment applied to the
Diagnosis Related Group-adjusted base payment rate".

Both the hospital and
Medicare were extremely reluctant to offer a further
explanation for the bill.

Sunday's
Houston Chronicle devoted two pages of the City
Section to the rise of "curanderas",
santeria priestesses and various herb shops in the "thriving
and vibrant immigrant enclaves" of Houston, once
middle class neighborhoods that now resemble Tijuana
slums.

A Former Bloomberg Employee
Says Mike Is A Great Guy

I
worked for Mike at Bloomberg Financial Markets from May
1991 - March 1993. I was around him about one hour every
day and never heard any of those crude jokes Guzzardi
referred to.

I was glad that
Bloomberg was so involved in the company. He knew
everyone's name and rarely got angry. He is a genius,
easily the smartest person I've ever met.

Also,
Bloomberg is an extremely generous person and gave
gladly to charity. Mike also established his own
charities as well. Although he could be gruff, Bloomberg
hired
many women and put them in powerful positions. He
empowered employees to make their own decisions, trusted
them and paid them handsomely.

And if
Bloomberg did make those jokes circa 1990, it's 16
years later now.

Calling Mike
vulgar may make a sensational article. But it doesn't
ring true for me.

Stebbins, who currently lives in Pennsylvania, is a
website designer pursuing a graduate degree in Library
and Information Science.